SCO Secretary-General to visit India from tomorrow

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary-General Rashid Alimov will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Tuesday, a month ahead of the political and security grouping's next meeting in China.

Alimov will be on a two-day India visit from tomorrow, when he will meet Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma. A day later, he will meet Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, the External Affairs Ministry said.

Alimov's visit to India comes ahead of the SCO Summit in China in June, which is likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Last month, Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited China to attend the SCO foreign and defence ministers meeting.

The SCO is an international grouping of eight member-states: India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the political and security organisation at the Astana summit last year as full members.

India's SCO membership provides it with geo-economic and geo-strategic opportunities in the Central Asian Region.

The creation of SCO was announced in 2001 in Shanghai in China.